Venezuelan rum producer DUSA (Destilerias Unidas SA) has kicked off the multi-market release of Diplomatico Ambassador Selection with a launch event in London.

During the first two weeks of November the dark rum will launch in Spain, Mexico, Prague, France and Italy, ahead of a 2012 release to the US.

Ambassador Selection - which joins Diplomatico Blanco Reserva, Añejo, Reserva and Reserva Exclusiva - has been distilled in pot stills, aged in oak for 12 years and bottled at cask strength of 47% abv.

The rum started its maturation in American oak and was then finished in Pedro Ximinez casks for two years, which – according to DUSA’s rum master Tito Cordero – “brings complexity” to the expression.

Cordero added that the £200 per bottle rum was given a name that would represent the ‘super-premium’ status of the rum. “Ambassadors are the top [level] of diplomacy – that’s why we called it that,” he said.